PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Dixons expects web traffic through to its Currys and PC World websites to explode around the alleged Apple announcement due October 22nd, where it’s expected to unveil its new iPad.
Speaking to PCR at the 2013 Internet Retailing Conference today, Jeremy Fennell, e-commerce Director at Dixons Retail, said: "We know what’s going to happen in a couple of weeks – all of a sudden we’ll see huge traffic to the sites for Apple products because they’ve got an announcement allegedly to come in the next couple of weeks.
"And that will have a huge impact on market traffic."
Fennell said that around half of Dixons’ growing online web traffic comes through Google searches. The retailer has also seen a big increase in searches for tablets and white goods on its websites, while laptop sales are steadily increasing following a decline last year.
"If you’re looking at macro-trends in the market and how they’re impacting our business, there’s a huge rise in the popularity of tablets," he added. "That was a big story last year when we saw laptop traffic flatten out and then decline a little bit, in a market that was declining vastly.
"And we’ve seen laptop traffic start to recover versus last year, at the same time as tablet traffic starts to stabilise as well.
"Then within the market itself, channel-wise we’ve seen a large increase into consumer electronics and particularly large white goods because of the Comet closure at the end of last year. That took away quite a big competitor for us in the market, so clearly we saw a natural share increase.
"Our job has been to make sure our offer has been strong enough to capitalise on that and to convert that traffic into sales, by offering the best value to the customer."
